The Blacksmith and the Archer
by Phoxx-Rain
Summary: When Andy finds out she's a half-blood her entire world gets turned upside down. Now she has to juggle friends, a new crush, supporting her family, and learning how to defend herself in the real world. But unless she's mistaken she's done pretty well for a sixteen year old half-blood. Please R
1. Chapter 1

Setting: Upstate New York

Status: Unaware

My day had not started the way I had planned it. In fact my entire week had been off kilter. Monday I had gotten into a fight with the school bully, which was normal, and had won, which wasn't normal. Tuesday I had been asked out by my four year crush. Wednesday I had gotten into an argument with one of my teachers about Greek mythology and had gotten myself suspended from class.

Today my friend since middle school, Dylan, and I had gotten in trouble for supposedly stealing from the staff lounge when neither of us had been near it all day. Somehow one of the teacher's lesson books had ended up in my locker and when I went to return it with Dylan, we had gotten detention. Which was where we were now

Detention was being held in the school's library and we were the only ones there besides the teacher who was supposed to be watching us and the librarian, both which were in the back room.

"I suspect Miles and Adam." Dylan said, bringing me back to the present. I considered this for a minute. Miles and Adam were the schools trouble makers, always taking things from the teachers and blaming other students and generally bringing mayhem wherever they went. One time, they had spray-painted graffiti all over the lockers and doors.

"Could be." I agreed, playing with a strand of my blonde hair. "But it sounds more like a set-up"

"Well, duh!" Dylan said, exasperated. "Of course it was a set-up. How else would the book have gotten into your locker?"

"No, I mean like a set-up from one of the teachers" I clarified. "Doesn't it seem odd?"

"Everything in this school is odd" Dylan said seriously. He always seemed to get serious whenever I talked about things being odd, like it was crucial information he needed to file away for later.

"That's true" I agreed. "Has your dyslexia gotten any better?"

Dylan shook his head. We both had Dyslexia and ADD, they were what made us friends. Since I met Dylan he had been trying to get his dyslexia to get better. Apparently it hadn't.

"Maybe we can sneak out of here while Mr. Creeps is busy shoving his tongue down Miss M's throat." I said pointing towards the door. Mr. Creeps was what everyone called the new twenty something year old science teacher because he seemed to give everyone the creeps.

Dylan glanced towards the back room, brown eyes flashing in the sun, and nodded. Quietly we both gathered our stuff and crept towards the front doors. We were almost out when the door to the back room slammed open and Mr. Creeps walked out running a hand through his already messy hair. He saw us, gave us a look that said "Say anything and I'll have you back in detention", then raised an eyebrow. We both nodded then rushed out the door behind us.

"Jeez, I thought he was going to yell at us." I said, once we were out in the hallway. School had ended about an hour ago, so the place was generally deserted. "Or make us sit back down for another hour."

"Sherry's probably either worried sick or extremely upset." Dylan said. Sherry was my foster mom. When I was twelve my real mom had been diagnosed with cancer. She had been in the final stages when I had met the nurse, Sherry. My mom had asked her to keep an eye on me and a week later she had passed away. I had been thrown into foster care and Sherry had adopted me saying she needed some help raising her two year old son and the baby she was expecting. My real father hadn't even bothered to show up for the funeral. I didn't even know where he was.

"Probably both." I said, sighing. Sherry could be extremely protective. "I should get home before she freaks out completely."

"I'll drive you home." Dylan offered. I smiled gratefully. It was a three mile walk from the school to Sherry's apartment. It wasn't like I didn't have my driver's license, I did. I just didn't have a car yet.

XXXXXX

An hour later I was standing in the hall outside the apartment. I could hear laughter and the sound of cooking and an occasional spoken sentence. For some reason, I dreaded going in there. It wasn't that I didn't like the place, it was nice and cozy, it was that every time I walked through the door I felt like I didn't belong. Sighing I placed my hand on the door knob and turned it.

"It's because you don't belong there." A quiet voice behind me said. I let go of the door knob and turned around. A man was leaning against the stair rail, he looked about twenty, wearing a red shirt, faded jeans, and loafers. He had sandy hair that fell in his eyes despite the fact that a pair of Ray Bans were pushed up on his head.

"Excuse me?" I said, because he hadn't made any sense.

"You're wondering why it never feels like you belong. That's because you don't." He said crossing his arms.

"No kidding?" I said sarcastically. "Do I even know you?"

He smiled and his teeth were so white they could have blinded someone if struck by any kind of light. Something in my memory clicked into place, a warm glow.

"In time you will." He said and stood up. "But if you ever find a place where you belong, make sure it has an archery range." And then he was gone, down the stairs and out the door at the front of the building.

I don't know how long I stood there processing his words, but I knew they were important. All of it. I just didn't know why.


	2. Chapter 2

The apartment was small with two bedrooms, one for Sherry and Lacey, her two year old, and one for Adam and me. From the front door you could see the door to my bedroom, the living room and the kitchen in one glance. If you walked a little further a hallway to your right led to the bathroom and Sherry's room.

Speaking of Sherry, she was sitting at the kitchen table with her head in her hands. I walked over to her.

"I'm home." I said softly, gently touching her shoulder. She placed her hand over mine and I saw a piece of paper on the table. "What's wrong?"

"Just the super." She said, sniffing, and I knew she had been crying.

"They're not going to kick us out are they?" I asked. This had been a constant discussion between the two of us since Sherry had rented the apartment, whether or not we'd be able to pay rent or not.

"Not unless I pay this months and last month's rent within the next two weeks." She said, patting my hand. This was one of the rare occasions I wished I had a job. "I'll have to put in extra hours at the hospital."

"But you're already working double shifts." I argued. "You can't keep doing this, you'll run yourself into the ground. I can't outlive another mom!" At this point I was yelling and there were tears in my eyes. Even though I hadn't taken to calling Sherry mom, I had become attached to her and I didn't want to lose what we had.

"Oh, honey." She stood up and hugged me. She smelled of latex gloves and hand sanitizer. "You're not going to lose me. I promise."

"Mom? Is dinner ready yet?" A small voice said. I looked up. Adam was standing in the doorway to our room. "Is everything okay?"

"Everything is fine." Sherry said, breaking the hug. "Dinner is almost ready. Did you finish your homework?"

"I need help." Adam said, glancing at me with an imploring expression.

"Alright, let's see how hard a six year olds homework can be." I said motioning for him to lead the way back into the room.

It turned out, he didn't really need help he just didn't want to be alone in the room anymore. So like the good "almost" sister I was, I sat with him on my bed while he finished his homework. Despite all the crazy stuff that had happened during the week, it was nice to just sit and relax.

"Meet anyone new today?" Adam spoke up from the floor. It was a question he asked every day. A way he could get involved in his "sisters" life. It had started when I met Dylan and up until today the answer had always been no.

"Yeah. I didn't catch his name though." I answered, leaning over to watch him write out another answer. He was working on English.

"Was he nice?" He asked.

I contemplated my answer for a bit. The man hadn't come off as rude, but I hadn't really talked with the guy either.

"He was okay." I finally said. Adam looked up at me, his dark eyes always looking like they could see right through me. He was too smart for a six year old.

"Did you think he was cute?" He asked.

"He was attractive for a twenty-something year old. But I wouldn't say he was cute." I answered. "Why?"

"Just wondering." Adam said before going back to his homework.

"What about you?" I asked. "Meet anyone new?"

His pencil stilled mid-sentence, but it lasted for only a second before he started writing again.

"No." He said.

I gasped. "Do you have a crush?" This time the pencil didn't still.

He didn't answer.

"You do! What's her name?" I asked. His head snapped up and he was blushing.

"Why does it always have to be a girl?" He demanded.

"It's not?" I asked, confused.

He shook his head like he couldn't believe me then went back to his homework. I sat up on the bed and leaned towards him.

"Adam. Is it or isn't it?"

"Does it matter?" He asked quietly.

"Yes. Is it or isn't it?"

He threw his pencil down and sat up on his knees. He looked me dead in the eye and I knew the answer. It wasn't a girl.

"Please don't tell mom." He begged, quietly. "I don't know what she'd say, or do, or-"

He was interrupted by me pulling him into a hug.

"Don't worry, little brother." I said then let him go. "I'm going to go help with dinner"

And I got up and left the room.

XXXXXXX

An hour later, the four of us were sitting down to eat, when someone knocked on the door. Well more like nearly blew the door off its hinges with the force of their pounding but since talk was kind of slow I was glad to be out of the kitchen. Until I opened the door.

Dylan was standing in the hallway having a panic attack. Normally I would chalk it down to him wanting to do something to calm his ADD, but I could tell this wasn't normal.

"We need to leave. Now." He said. His hands were shaking and he kept looking behind him as if he expected someone to come charging up the stairs.

"What?" I asked, confused. With an irritated huff he pushed pass me into the apartment. "Dude!"

I followed him. By the time I caught up with him he was in my room packing a bag for me. Sherry looked positively horrified as she stood in the hallway holding Lacey.

"What is going on?" I demanded. He was seriously starting to freak me out.

"We need to leave. Finish packing." He said, then rushed out into the hall. I started to follow but Adam stopped me. I tried to go around him but he kept moving in my way.

"Move Adam." I told him.

"No. Now finish packing." He closed the door and stood in front of it, arms crossed, blocking the exit. Grudgingly I went to my bed and started throwing random clothes items into the bag. With an irritated noise, Adam strode over to the bed and grabbed the bag. "You do not know how to organize."

"Trust me kid, when you turn sixteen, you won't care what's organized or not." I shot back.

While he was reorganize my bag, I walked over to the door and put my ear to it. The voices were faint, but I could still hear them.

"-Don't have time to explain everything." Dylan was saying.

"I know. Her mother told me everything before she passed." Sherry said. My mother?

"Then I hope she explained what the dangers are." Dylan sounded worried.

"She did, but only some. Although I had expected it to happen sooner." Sooner? Expected what to happen?

"Well, so did we." Dylan explained. "Something must have triggered it. Her memories or something weird happened."

My memories? The only thing I could think of was the warm glow.

"We need to get her to camp before every monster in the entire area feels it." Dylan said. He sounded panicked again. "But whatever we do, she can't know that she's a half-blood."


End file.
